Police: Man set fire to his ex-girlfriend's Dover Twp. home

A Newberry Township man is in York County Prison on $1 million bail for allegedly setting fire to a Dover Township house where his baby and former girlfriend live, police said.

Thomas Michael Funk, 25, of Newberry Farms Mobile Home Park, 700 Cassel Road, Lot 125, is charged with nine counts each of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment; one count each of arson, causing or risking a catastrophe and making terroristic threats; and two counts of criminal mischief.

Co-defendant Timothy M. Gibbs, 20, of 71 S. Front St. in York Haven, is charged with five counts of criminal mischief for his alleged role in the incident. He remains in York County Prison on $10,000 bail, according to court documents.

Fire: Northern York County Regional Police said the 2:40 a.m. Aug. 7 blaze damaged siding and charred a wooden deck and railing at a house in the 2900 block of Deep Hollow Road.

Brad Dunham, a state police fire marshal, confirmed officers' suspicions that the fire was intentionally set, according to Funk's charging documents.

A blue plastic container that held an unknown type of accelerant was ignited and left next to the house, police said. Flames spread through a mulch bed to the house.

There were nine people, including five children who ranged in age from 18 months to 14 years, inside the rented house at the time of the fire. Funk's 18-month-old daughter was one of the people inside the house, documents state.

Everyone escaped injury, police said. The interior of the house sustained smoke and water damage, according to police.

Car: An officer responding to the scene saw a red Nissan car with four people in it leaving the area at high speed, and police were able to track down its owner, Brandon Barto.

Initially, Barto denied to police that he was involved in the arson but later told them he drove Funk and Gibbs to the Deep Hallow Road home the night of the blaze in exchange for $50, documents state.

Barto's stepbrother, Mark Frank, also went along to the house, Barto told police.

Funk told Frank and Barto to damage three vehicles parked in the driveway of the home but both men told police they refused to do so, documents state. Barto also told police he saw Gibbs slash tires of the vehicles, which were also defaced with spray paint, documents state.

Barto told officers he and Frank were walking away from the house when he saw Funk lighting the 5-quart container on fire and also saw flames on the porch of the house, documents state.

Letter: A few days after the fire, Barto told police he again gave Funk a ride to the house, where Funk used a screwdriver to stick a letter addressed to Funk's ex-girlfriend's boyfriend to a mailbox, documents state.

The author of the letter threatened to break the man's legs and to throw "acid in his girlfriend's face," documents state.

Funk's ex-girlfriend, Haley Keller, told officers she broke up with Funk three to four months before the incidents and "he was not happy she was dating" someone else, documents state.

When he was questioned by police, Funk said he heard about the arson and the threatening letter, but denied any additional knowledge, saying "he would never do anything to hurt Haley" or their daughter, documents state.